#this is the first tamora pierce book i read

[hearts-a-heavy-burden]

Am I the only one who feels spoiled by reading Tamora Pierce as a child and then never finding something that hit quite the same? She really had it all. One of the only authors I’ve seen do multiple generations well (because the previous generations aren’t just offed or all of their progress backtracked). Ambient vs scholarly magic systems is still one of the coolest magic systems to this day. The friendships are perfect and just the right amount of romance to make it fun. Redemption stories that fit the characters and don’t make them perfect angels even as they grow for the better. Tragic regression stories that haunt the characters (and me).

[wutheringmights]

After I finished reading The Epic of Gilgamesh today, I entered a fugue state where I sat down and read the entirety of Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.

On the record, I have had a lifelong love and adoration for Pierce's Tortall books. I first read the Song of the Lioness quartet when I was 11, and they rewrote my brain. I love them so much. I reread them and the other Tortall books on a semi-frequent schedule.

It's been a while since I reread any of the Alanna books, if only because my sister took our shared copies when she moved out. I've been meaning to buy my own set for a long while now but haven't been able to justify the purchase. The other week, I just so happened to find the first two volumes at my local indie bookstore. I bought them immediately, as well as ordered the third and fourth book. (And discovered that the store owner knows me by name-- when I went to pick up my order, she saw me and said, Hi Frankie! I got your books over here.) (I may be spending too much money there.)

So I have been in a bit of an emotional rut these past few weeks. Work sucks. Life stinks. The temptation to run off to Tortall and curl up in the fantasy story that captivated me as a kid has never been stronger.

Ergo, I ran off to read the first book as soon as I could.

If you're looking for any critique of this book, series, or Tortall in general, I will never give it. Sure, it's problematic and dated, and in many ways imperfect, but someone else can list out all of its issues. They're all perfect to me.

Anyway, the book. I should say something about this book in particular.

One thing I appreciate about Pierce's writing is how she handles school settings in fantasy. Learning and training is so mundane. All of her heroines have to work hard and put in extra hours of study in order to improve, much less keep up with their peers. It's so normal that it circles around to being weirdly refreshing.

Also, there is still no other fantasy author who handles period talk and birth control the way Pierce does. We make fun of the trope of fantasy birth control nowadays, but I rarely see it presented as it is here: as a part of normal puberty lessons and given long before sex is in the girl's radar. And even today with the glut of YA fantasy stories out there, I still have yet to see menstruation be portrayed as frequently or as bluntly as Pierce writes it.

There was a period of time publishers really tried to push the Tortall books as straight YA, which doesn't work for that reason alone. You gotta market them to middle schoolers. They're the ones just starting puberty talks, and getting scenes like this is so good for their brains.

Moving on: I fucking love these characters. Alanna was an icon of brash, temperamental heroines that have shaped my taste to this day. I love how even in the first book, Jon is kinda shitty. I adore George Cooper. Talk about a taste maker the way this man sets a standard.

I just can't be coherent when it comes to any Tortall books. I have no thoughts. Head empty. I am going to binge the rest of this series as quickly as I can before my library book comes in. Then normal book content will resume.

Before I go, I need to talk about the book covers.

Growing up, my sister and I had these covers:

Which, god. I love them. The black is striking. The art is incredible. Alanna looks so good. They were the perfect pocket-size too. I was going to buy the same edition for my copies, but instead I got the 40th anniversary reprints:

Not bad at all! These books have had some seriously bad covers, and these look great! Very anime, which will appeal to the 11 year olds who need to have their socks rocked by this series.

But, man. I really miss those black covers. One day I will splurge and buy a second set of them just so that I can stare at the art.

[libraryleopard]

Young adult fantasy graphic novel

Follows Aiza, a girl from the recently conquered Ornu people, who dreams of becoming a knight and becoming a full citizen of the and so joins the squire-training program

As Aiza navigates rigorous training and rivalries among the trainees while keeping her Ornu heritage a secret, she begins to question the glory promised by the empire and must decide where her loyalty lies

Explores xenophobia, imperialism, and propaganda

Palestinian American author and Jordanian American illustrator

[bumblebyaf]

happy to announce the protector of the small series ages well (much better then its earlier series) and if you were a fan of the book u should absolutely reread it 10/10

[indarkdirected]

I was the same way lol

If people are sad about The Wizard Facism game coming from someone you used to look up to and admire, may I suggest an author whose books are filled with nuanced characters and strong, dynamic women?

Tamora Pierce has been writing since the 80’s and has two worlds of magic and fantasy and bonus!!! Isn’t a transphobic POS.

[whimsicallywiddershins]

When I was young and I first read Briar's Book, it wasn't my favorite. It had slow parts, and it wasn't too exciting, not like wildfires and pirates.

But now, reading it again as an adult, after living through the covid pandemic, it's amazing.

I am amazed at the research Tamora Pierce must have put in for the book! The events of the books are nearly identical to the covid pandemic.

It's amazing she even chose plague as a topic for her fantasy children's story. It's not exactly a normal plot line for such books. And she didn't go the easy way out of *hurr durr medieval society uses leeches and doesn't understand how germs work* option that so many fantasy writers use. Instead, she came up with a believable system that supplemented magic with technology.

The healers using magic to check the body to see what the pox did, the magic sample boxes, the magic diagnosis tools, the use of herbs and magic gems to find the "keys" to the cure... even the use of magic to distill the essence of the disease in order to study it. All combined with the good leadership of Duke Vedris, who followed the epidemic procedures written by the Living Temple to try to halt the pox. He enforced quarantine on the guards that handled the sick, cleared out warehouses to make hospitals, forced everyone to wear gloves and masks, paid people to collect the dead and burn them, ect.

The way Tamora Pierce perfectly captured to fear of the pandemic. The fear of getting sick, the dread of the knowledge of new cases and deaths, the exhaustion of the medical workers and support staff, the way the healers drained themselves dry and got sick.

It all combined into a realistic magic plauge that made an incredible book far before it's time.

[writingwithcolor]

Avoiding the white savior of the kingdom

@ceo-of-angst asked:

Okay so I'm writing a fantasy series. There's two main kingdoms though there is a third but that one doesn't have to do anything with this ask. Both of them are likely as big as a continent each so there are different climates everywhere, therefore there's a lot of diversity even within one country. The issues mostly is between the two kingdoms nationality wise, as there's a war. The prince of one of the kingdoms kills his older brother to gain the throne. This is where the issue starts. They have a younger (half)sister who ends up leading a revolution bc of her brother's bad rule (famine, war, dictatorship and incantation or sentence to fight to the death in war to anyone who doesn't obbey the government etc), she's white, she's helped by my main cast who are all poc (one of them also from nobility) from the other kingdom and I don't want to accidently make it a white savior She's not my main character though if anything we only see into her pov bc of a difference between kingdoms in book 2. Most of the pov is on my main cast so I don't know how this could pay out.

Add diversity to the kingdom

There is a simple solution: don’t make one kingdom all-white or all-BIPOC. Add in diversity and mixed race. You seem to already be doing that, and it’s not an issue of race but rather tyranny. White saviorism is when only a white character can solve a problem for BIPOC and they’re seen as the hero. If it’s a team effort, where your protagonist is fallible but well-intentioned, you should be fine. -Jaya

Questions to ask yourself

This critique got levied at Tamora Pierce’s Trickster series, and it’s a pretty valid critique of the books—every time you have a white person as a figurehead of an otherwise-diverse movement, you’re going to start getting into why this white person, and why then?

It’s especially salient if you have the person come into an already-established rebellion movement. Is her involvement the thing that gets the privilege necessary to make the movement valid? What about her makes her the ideal top person in the organization?

Why is she white?

My first question is: why is she white? Is it related to colorism and classism? If yes, then why are you automatically making the leading group white if there’s so much diversity and so many other groups can trend extremely pale?

Why are the kingdoms so big?

My second question is: why are the kingdoms so big? It’s actually frighteningly hard to run a continent-sized country. If you’re attempting to make these single groups so big simply for ease of worldbuilding, and for diversity’s sake, know that a country does not have to be large to contain a multitude of groups. You are allowed to have political rivalry in a small area and still maintain diversity within it.

How much privilege is she willing to give up?

My third question is: how much privilege is she willing to give up? Is she trying to take the throne for herself, or is she trying to destroy all of the structures that gave her status in the first place? Because that question will determine how willing the PoC around her are going to be. Why would they support a ruler if they’ve been subjugated by that family, with no real promise she’s going to be any different once she gets in power?

On the flipside, why would she be willing to give up any of her privilege in the name of removing her brother from the throne, and what stops her from going off the deep end once she has the ability to control others?

It’s likely doable to make this situation read as less of a white saviour, but in order to do that you’ll likely need to wask yourself a lot of hard questions about your motives and the character arc you want to have with her.

People may see a white savior, regardless

And you’ll also have to ask yourself if you’ll be comfortable with never really being able to avoid some people calling this a white saviour plot. Even if you do “everything right” and follow every bit of advice you can, there’s always going to be some people who aren’t too thrilled that the person saving everyone is white.

So examine your motives, really nail down what you’re trying to show with this, and come to terms with not making everyone happy no matter what you do.

~Mod Lesya

[wordybee]

Damn, I start reading Tamora Pierce books again for the first time in almost fifteen years and suddenly my smartphone-destroyed attention span is restored to what it was when I was twelve and devouring books daily.

[librarycomic]

First Test (Protector of the Small Book 1) by Tamora Pierce, graphic novel adaptation by Devin Grayson and Becca Farrow. RH Graphic, 2024. 9780307931566. 160pp.

It's been over 20 years since I read one of Pierce's YA fantasy novels, but I continue to recommend her books to kids and their parents. I'm happy to say this graphic novel adaptation captures the spirit of the original, particularly the friendships.

Keladry is the only girl accepted into training as a knight. Despite Alanna's martial prowess -- she's a female knight -- Lord Wyldon, who is in charge of the new pages, puts Kel on probation for a year. If she can't convince him she belongs with the boys in her class, he'll send her home. But from the way Kel handles herself at home in Mindelan -- she takes on several boys trying to drown a bag of cats, and then a giant spider creature -- it's clear there's no reason to worry about how well Kel can fight. The bullies she has to deal with are awful, it's clear she's had more martial arts training than the other pages, and she's forced to work harder than everyone else. (I never doubted for a moment that she'd find a way to hang on.)

This book takes place after Pierce's Song of the Lioness series, which is about Alanna. A graphic novel adaptation of Page, the first book in that series, will be released in 2025.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

once again remembering how a signed, first edition copy of Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce single handedly made little pre-teen me go from "wait these girls are kissing. can I read a book with girls kissing each other in it???" to "I aM Going to REREAD everY moment where Daja and Rizu exiST Together and Giggle The Whole Time", singlehandedly turning me gay forever

also singlehandedly setting the bar for breakups so high, like, excuse you having Daja keep a little portrait of Rizu to remember her by and be caught looking at it while riding home with her sibs is so freaking sweet, the empress wanting Daja to stay specifically just to make Rizu happy again is so sweet,

and them breaking up not because of a fight or from a lack of love but because they both have Other Things in their lives and those Other Things are just as important as being in love, and they're not bitter about each other for it?

Sad yes, hurt, heartbroken- but it wasn't the wrong choice to not choose each other in the end, and it wasn't the wrong choice to choose each other at the start. Like, damn. 12yo me's mind was BLOWN

[onyourstageleft]

a love letter to my favorite YA lit:

I'm relistening to the Beka Cooper audio books again (a yearly tradition at this point) and every time I hear the opening line of Mastiff, "We buried Holborn today," it takes me back to opening the e-book on my Nook the day it was released in my freshman year of high school and reading that line while sitting on the bleachers waiting for PE to start. I remember flipping back to the previous page to make sure this was the first chapter, thinking I'd never even heard of Holborn. I opened the Bloodhound e-book to compare the dates of her entries and realized the time skip was nearly two years, and got so excited to see what happened to Beka while we weren't with her. We walked the track that overcast day of PE in 2011 and I barely looked up from my Nook, so engrossed was I in Beka's story

that was the first Tamora Pierce book release I waited on; I found her books in probably 2009 and had read most of them by the summer of 2011. I pre-ordered Mastiff so it would be on my Nook as soon as it came out, but I was a freshman in high school and wasn't supposed to stay up till midnight, so I had to wait until the day to read it. it was nearly 13 years (and half my life ago) but here I am, still re-reading and re-listening to the Tamora Pierce books that got me through being a teenager. I remember sitting in my high school's library rereading their copy of Wild Magic over my lunch break to pass the time; drunk crying on the floor of my friend's dorm at a character's death in Terrier my freshman year of college (even though I'd read it 3 or 4 times at that point I always forgot); waiting in the lobby of the technology building of my college campus for my class to start with Spy's Guide on my lap after its release; sitting in my advisor's office in grad school flipping through Mastiff and Page and Lioness Rampant for quotes to include in my thesis; rereading Briar's book at the height of the pandemic. I have a tattoo of Lighting on my arm and a (very rough and needs to be redone) tattoo of Pounce/Faithful on my calf and I genuinely don't think a day has gone by in over a decade where I haven't thought about Tamora Pierce books

the world of Tortall (and Emelan, to a lesser extent) has shaped me, and although this is an attempt to pin it down, I will never be able to explain how much these books mean to me. I know that I may love other series and worlds (I'm currently reading some Terry Pratchett, for example), but they will never make an impact on me in the same way that Tortall and all its various characters has, and that's fine by me

and yet, through all of it, I will never, ever be ready for The Thing We Don't Talk About in Mastiff, not now at a dozen rereads and not in another 13 years

[pitviperofdoom]

Any book recommendations? That remind you of fanfics you write? That inspire you? Or you just plain like?

Pretty much anything by Tamora Pierce, she's the kind of writer I want to be. The Protector of the Small series is my favorite of the bunch, but you do kind of have to read Song of the Lioness and The Immortals first, which are both also extremely good. They're all four-book series but I race right through them.

Favorite Neil Gaiman books are: Good Omens, The Graveyard Book, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao is Pacific Rim meets Handmaid's Tale meets Hunger Games in a science fantasy version of China. Great book if you love it when a female character is also a rabid honey badger.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee. Bisexual british lordling goes on his Grand Tour with his best friend/crush, hijinks and manhunts ensue. I haven't read the other two books of the trilogy yet but I intend to.

Currently rereading The Lord of the Rings and loving it.

Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams: cat-based xenofiction, but tone-wise it's more Watership Down than Warrior Cats. Rich animal fantasy with a kiss of cosmic horror.

Big fan of Jane Austen, favorites are Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. In the same vein, Evelina by Fanny Burney came out before Jane Austen's novels but occupies a similar vein of romantic satire of 18th century British society.

The original Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories are genuinely so good, I need to reread The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Redwall series basically raised me as a child. A lot of my feelings about how stories should go come from what I absorbed from Redwall.

If graphic novels count, Mouse Guard by David Petersen.

[wutheringmights]

I finished rereading The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce a couple of days back. I already talked about the first book in a post that garnered more attention than it deserved. I guess we were all happily reminiscing about the menstruation scenes together, or Tortall fans are so starved for content they (we) will reblog anything.(Understandable. I too am starved for a thriving Tortall fandom.)

I'm too lazy to make separate posts about each book, so we're just going to do a mega post covering the second, third, and fourth book.

Unlike last time, I will be giving a little criticism to this series. I still love it endlessly, but there were a few things about the prose I thought was interesting that I want to talk about a bit.

So, without further ado~

In the Hand of the Goddess

I think this one is my favorite one, despite how rushed the plot it. It contains all of my favorite plot points, like awkward romances with George and Jon, attending knight lessons, and a little summer war. Fun stuff.

But it definitely feels rushed. I really wish someone told Pierce to make this a 12 book series, expanding on Alanna's years at the castle. It would have gone so far to better develop the romances and the friendships in these books.

I am fascinated by what Pierce chose to skim over. Characters would die or kiss for the first time off screen, with the prose resuming with Alanna reacting to it. It demonstrates an understanding of character work that I personally adore and try to emulate in my own writing-- the real bones of a story being in how characters respond to fantastic events as opposed to the fantastic events themselves.

Also, the whole veil spell Roger cast in objectively stupid, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. You're telling me that Roger used magic to make Alanna lose interest in doing anything about the obviously evil things he was doing? That's fucking hilarious. You know an editor came back to Pierce and asked her to come up with a reason why Alanna wasn't just going to spring into action at the first sign of Roger trying to kill her, only for Pierce to come up with this. It's so silly. I love it.

Woman Who Rides Like A Man

Did this book age poorly? Yes, but not as badly as I remembered. That's not a stirring defense, and it's really not meant to be.

The Bahzir are a mess of Orientalism, and Pierce definitely deserves criticism for not only the way she wrote them but for the ways in which she frames their cultural practices as something that needs to be fixed. Having Alanna want to force them to change their culture to suit her beliefs is not a great look for both the character and the writer. And that's not even getting into the whole assimilation plotline.

But I did enjoy Pierce's attempts to expand on the definition of womanhood, especially as a part of Alanna learning to embrace femininity. There is this running thread in these last two books of Alanna learning about all the different ways to be a woman and choosing for herself what her gender means to her. It's not done particularly well, and anyone looking for a revolutionary examination of gender roles and identity is going to be sorely disappointed. But there's an attempt here that I can't help but appreciate.

This book is also where Pierce starts to slow the plot down, which lends it to having the most reasonable pacing out of the bunch. That being said, it's also the book where the lack of development for a bunch of the side characters start to hurt. I really wish Gary or Raoul joined Alanna in the desert. Raoul gets his moment in the sun with the Protector of the Small books, but Gary remains largely forgettable. In fact, I spent this entire read-through convinced this man dies at the end of the last book, if only because I can't remember where he appears in any of the other books.

Lioness Rampant

This book somehow has the improved pacing of the third book while still feeling rushed. The quest for the Dominion Jewel really should have been it's own book, if only to give Thayet and Buri more room for development. Thayet in particular really needs her moment to shine, especially when she continues to be an important character in the other series.

But do you know who did get a lot of screen time? Liam.

Remembered shit about this guy before going into this book. I could only vaguely recalled disliking him as a kid, but not as much as I venomously hated Jon. (Speaking of which-- I love the way this man is realistically shitty. Him getting dumped by Alanna is always my favorite scene.) But Liam? Fuck that guy. Holy shit. I give full applause to Pierce for portraying the important milestones every girl goes through growing up, which includes having a situationship that is so shitty that it becomes essential character development.

Roger's return feels very... cheesy? I think Alex should have stepped up to be the final villain on the story. Unlike Roger, Alex was Alanna's friend. They have history. The betrayal would have imbued that final fight with so many more emotions than it ultimately had. I also would have liked Alanna to have at least meaningfully talked to Alex sometime before the climax.

Honestly, it's impressive how reactive Alanna is as a character in the last half of the book. She doesn't seek out how to stop Roger's plan, or fix Thom, or anything. Other characters make plans and she just... waits for something to go wrong.

That being said, by virtue of Alanna's relationships with George, Liam, and Jon all happening sometime in this plot, this book becomes a good place to look to get the full berth of how Pierce handles romances. Which, I love her approach. The romances are never over the top or, for lack of a better word, too romantic. It's very down to earth, with characters dating, marrying, or breaking up for realistic reasons.

Jon and Alanna were friends who broke up because they had different life plans. Liam and Alanna broke up for having fundamentally different values. As much as I bitch about how shitty Jon and Liam are, they're not cartoonishly evil. They're just a little shitty the way most of your exes will be. Jon and Liam are men could find love with someone else. They just aren't suited for Alanna.

Meanwhile, the most romantic things George does are wait for her and be supportive. He doesn't fight or get territorial. He makes his feelings clear, then waits for Alanna's cues. Alanna definitely loves him, but she ends up with him in the end because their lifestyles and core beliefs meld together. There's no grand romantic gesture or whirlwind affairs. They are just a good pair.

I have read stories with far heavier focuses on romance, and none of those couples feel as perfect as Alanna and George. Those stories prioritize all the gooey moments over showing why the main couple should get together. For how little romantic interactions they have, you believe these two could have a successful marriage. Perfect stuff.

---

Over all, I really enjoyed rereading these books. For all my griping, I still love the story. I love Alanna. She's a character who is fundamental to my soul. No matter where I am in life, I will always want to open these books and find her again, to walk back into Tortall and join her on her quest to be a lady knight.

My copies of the series come with forewards from a previous edition. In one of them, Pierce wrote that this series started off as an adult fantasy story that was much darker and edgier. I need to know what that story looks like, what happened in it. Pierce can claim as she wants that she hardly remembers what it looks like, but I refuse to believe that. Release the unedited first draft, Pierce. I am begging you.

[isnt-it-pretty]

When I was a kid, I didn't read. One of my learning disabilities is reading, and it was really difficult for me to make sense of words. They gave me as much extra help in school as they could, but it didn't really do anything. I was several grades behind everybody else, and tbh, I was probably halfway illiterate by the time I was ten, but I honestly can't remember.

And then my older sister brought Sandry's Book home from the library as an audiobook. This was in 2008, when audiobooks were a lot less common than they are now. It was on a CD and I remember sitting in my room listening to it, and feeling my chest swell from joy and excitement.

It was life-changing. I was enthralled by the story of these four kids. I read the physical book along with it, and finally, finally, reading made sense. I could finally match up the sounds I heard with the words I saw, and it clicked in a way it never had before.

I taught myself to read from Tammy's books. The first book I ever read cover to cover of my own accord was Magic Steps. The very first piece of fanfiction I wrote was on loose-leaf paper for Tamora Pierce.

As a bullied kid, it was clear I was unwanted everywhere I went. But in Tammy's books? Those four were unwanted too. They were hurt and angry but they often chose to be kind, even when it was hard. They stood up for what they believed in even if nobody else did.

These books changed my life in ways I can't express. I'm not sure I would love reading as much as I do if I hadn't been given her books. If I didn't read, I definitely wouldn't write.

Even if the books aren't complicated technical writing-wise, and the world-building doesn't always line up, they will forever hold a special place in my heart. I wouldn't be who I am without them.

[motherofmabari]

Spoilers for Mastiff, the third Beka Cooper book

I hated the Big Reveal that Tunstall was the traitor at the end of Mastiff the first time I read it, I had to put the book down (none too gently) and walk away I was so upset. I felt so betrayed, convinced it was completely out of character, and utterly heartbroken. I felt that way for years and left Mastiff off the list whenever I did a Tortall reread.

I've listened to it twice since, in my last two Tortall rereads. I'm still heartbroken and betrayed, but I'm less convinced it was out of character. I read something Tamora Pierce said once, about how it would have been out of character for the man we met in Terrier, but the events of the intervening years changed him. Tunstall was always a passionate and somewhat impulsive man, but those traits began to sour as he struggled with an aging and disabled body and the difference in status between him and Sabine. He's showing flashes of this bitterness in Bloodhound, to the point that I didn't really question his crotchetiness at the beginning of Mastiff. The Tunstall we met in Terrier wasn't dealing with chronic pain from over a decade of being badly injured on the job, he was in his prime and secure in his masculinity. By Mastiff he is in near constant pain and struggles to do the more physically demanding parts of his job, something that deeply wounds his pride. His ideas about what makes a man come up multiple times, and I think that's more on his mind at this point because he's feeling like less of a man now. His masculinity is also threatened by his certainty that he is not worthy of Sabine, and it's his unwillingness to let go of these ideas about manhood that ultimately lead to him accepting their deal. It could have used polishing, but the character development is definitely there.

I still think Mastiff is one of the weaker installments, but honestly I think that comes from the limitations of the journal format and Tamora Pierce being better with third person narration. Those are difficult problems to tackle, and I like that she chose to tackle them anyway. She was trying to do something new and interesting with both the format and having one of the 'core trio' turn traitor. She was exploring what could make a 'good', beloved, and kind person fall to such a degree, and I do think she was ultimately successful in that portrayal.

I guess Mastiff is included in the rereads for good now. At least I can set Farmer against the heartbreak at the end!

I do have one question though - did Pounce know? Would revealing Tunstall count as interfering?

[renthony]

It is SO difficult to find anyone who knows the Underland Chronicles in my day-to-day life.... when did you read them? I read them in elementary school! (It's very cool to know i was only 2 when the series came out, and yet it still holds such an important impact on my life-!) Honestly I was devastated when I read the last book in the series, for Obvious Reasons - Suzanne's ability to drive me to tears stays consistent through all her books, but as TUC was the first series i read by her, it was especially emotional for me (and triply so when I consider the fact that it would later shape how i viewed the bonds I would read about in the Dragonriders of Pern later in life, and how much I love bats, and, well.)

Thank you for reblogging that post, by the way! I got super excited because I didn't know there was even a fandom space on Tumblr (although, admittedly, I had only checked way back when I was fourteen, and it doesn't look like the TUC page was up and running suring that time, so it makes sense that I missed it)

Now I've got a treasure trove of things to read and look at..... anyways! Sorry to ramble in your inbox. I just got super excited about TUC.

No need to apologize, I LOVE talking about The Underland Chronicles! :D

The first time I read the first book, it was right after book 2 came out in 2004. I was ten years old, and right in the target audience. I was immediately obsessed, and for the next few years I checked bookstore and library shelves CONSTANTLY while waiting for each new installment to come out.

I don't actually remember how I found the first book--I thiiiiink it might have been at a book fair, but I genuinely don't remember. Something about it caught my eye, someone in my family bought me a copy, and I re-read it until it started falling apart. I'm 30 and still have my childhood copy--it's held together with tape now, but it's got an honored place on the bookshelf.

I still re-read the series every couple of years as an adult. Honestly, I'd cite them as one of my biggest influences as an author, right up there with Tamora Pierce. I want to write fantasy adventures like that, but for adults.